The subject matter herein relates generally to systems and methods to facilitate management of surveillance devices that are distributed over a monitored region.
Numerous surveillance systems exist today that include a large number of surveillance devices distributed over a wide area. The surveillance devices may generally include video equipment, still images cameras, motion monitoring equipment, temperature sensors, water sensors and the like which collect data (video, images, etc.) for storage in a database or digital video recorder (DVR).
More recently, municipal services and agencies have become interested in having surveillance devices installed over all or portions of region(s) for which the municipality or agency is responsible. For example, police departments are having security cameras installed on highways and at intersections to monitor whether vehicles comply with speed limits and stop lights. Utility companies are becoming interested in having cameras and other monitoring equipment installed to monitor utility property (e.g., power grids, power stations, water treatment equipment, sewage systems, etc.). The surveillance devices are installed on or at desired locations relative to property owned, leased or controlled by the municipal service and/or agency. The surveillance devices are coupled to network devices that transmit recorded surveillance data to the desired storage equipment.
Heretofore, numerous separate and independent companies and services were contracted by the municipality or agency to monitor, manage and maintain the various types of equipment within the surveillance system. For example, one company may be engaged to install part or all of the devices, while a separate company may be engaged to perform maintenance. A third company may be hired to manage operation of video devices and storage of video on DVRs, while a separate fourth company was hired to manage operation of the network communications devices that conveyed the collected data to storage equipment. A separate company may be hired to manage operation of non-video surveillance equipment, such as motion sensors, speed guns, still image cameras and the like.
In the past, installation engineers have experienced problems when determining where specifically to install surveillance devices. The engineer's base installation on source plan documents that show the locations of property (e.g., utility poles, etc.) on which the surveillance devices are to be installed. However, the installation engineer may arrive at an installation site only to learn that they do not have complete or correct information regarding the property and where the security and network equipment is to be installed. For example, when a camera is to be installed on a utility pole, the utility pole may not be at the particular coordinates where the installation engineer expected it. Also, the engineer may arrive at a location without all of the necessary source documentation needed to complete installation (e.g., no engineering drawings, specifications for the wrong security device, invalid network operating parameters (channel or frequency settings) that do not link to other existing devices, and the like. Once a security device is installed, there is no convenient manner by which the engineer can enter the exact coordinates of the security device in connection with the source plan documents showing the utility property.
In the past, maintenance engineers have also experienced problems in determining which specific equipment to repair or perform periodic maintenance upon. The maintenance engineer may arrive at a site where the equipment is thought to be installed, only to learn that the equipment is not at the expected specific location. For example, an engineering drawing of the region may show a camera to be on a utility pole located on one side of a street or located at one corner of an intersection. However, when the engineer arrives to perform the maintenance, they may learn that the only camera in the area is on the opposite side of the street or at a different corner of the intersection. This causes problems and confusion as to whether they are at the correct location or if the drawings are simply incorrect.
Moreover, as city wide wireless video systems are being engineered, deployed, and managed, comprehensive documentation is not being created. The documentation being created also may not be complete as to the system architecture. For example, the documentation is not maintained, nor updated, for a complete system design extending from start to finish, nor covering snap shot detail layouts in graphic displays. Instead, each separate company or service provider creates and/or maintains only documentation related specifically to their corresponding subset of responsibilities. For example, the company overseeing the network management sub-system only creates and maintains documentation regarding the communications sub-system. Other companies only create and maintain documents regarding the products that they install, maintain or manage. Manufacturers of individual devices do not create, nor maintain, system wide documents, while integration service providers do not create, nor maintain, product specifications.
Hence, multiple separate documents exist that describe only limited portions of an overall system. The source plan or engineering documents, that describe the property locations, do not contain information about the surveillance devices. Specifications for the surveillance devices are not correlated to the particular physical location of the surveillance device in the monitored region. Warrantee and service records are not correlated with the particular physical location of the surveillance.
A need remains for a system that correlates physical locations of devices to a map, identifies each device, illustrates communications paths, presents system status information, enables remote control over the devices and affords ready access to specifications, warrantee and service records.